Day Seven
by johnRwilliams
Summary: In this post season six fan-fiction, the stakes are higher as our hero Jack is outlawed and on the run from not only the government but a sadistic mad man bent on playing a game that leaves millions of lives hanging in the balance.Chapter 2 NOW AVAILABLE
1. 10:00PM11:00PM

**THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 10:00 PM AND 11:00 PM**

**10:00:01/10:00:02/10:00:03**

Jack's eyes fluttered until they opened. He winced as the sharp pain from the bruise on the back of his head made its way into his body. He focused his eyes until his vision became clear. He was not in the FBI transport truck anymore, but in a small daft and dim lit room, a bathroom.

Layered tiles made the frame of the room. An off-white color pasted against a blue and white tiled floor. Then the stench hit his nose hard, the smell of decaying flesh. He tried to cover his bottom half of his face with his right arm, but when he tugged at it the sound of metal against metal echoed throughout the small room. He looked up to see that his right arm was handcuffed to a pipe behind a toilet he was resting against.

He pulled harder trying to break the cuffs from the rusting pipe, but they were stubborn and would not budge. He covered his face with his left arm instead. He looked around the room trying to assess his situation. Dried blood puddles and splatters gave color to the pale walls and floor. Two decomposing bodies lay in there, one in a tub and one dangling from a pair of handcuffs as well; a severed foot from one of the bodies completed the picture.

Jack then came upon something else, something that made him gasp a bit. A small boy, alive, was cuddled and asleep on the opposite end of the room. He called out quietly to the kid, but the kid was in a deep sleep. Jack squirmed a bit until his foot hit a small object. He moved his foot out of the way to see what it was. It was a tape recorder. Jack quickly reached out with his left arm, grabbed it and placed the left arm back over his mouth. He pressed his index finger against the play button. There was static at first, and then a deep, masking voice slithered through the speaker.

"Hello Jack," the calm, ominous voice said, "I want to play a game. And the game is for you to decide how far you will go?"

Sweat begins to collect and river down Jack's face.

"You have always put yourself and you're so called mission first," the voice continues, "and people have suffered for it, they have _died _for it. At this exact moment, your lovely daughter, Kim, is on her way to the place you called home more often than your actual home. CTU."

Jack slowly removes his arm and focuses his attention on the tape recorder.

"She is carrying, inside of her, a lethal virus that in exactly six hours will be released; killings hundreds. Instead of killing those to save the world Jack, you now have a chance to save them."

The sound of light moans come from the other side of the room; the boy was beginning to wake up.

"The door opposite to you is locked, a key will open it. Where the key is, well that is the first goal of the game. How far are you willing to go Jack?"

A small whisper, too faint for Jack to hear spurts out before the sound of static takes over. Jack leans his head back, gasping for air. He had just been delivered the shock of a lifetime, and had literally taken the breath out of him. Jack looked over as the kid slowly rose. His face began to panic; he was lost, confused, and alone and scared. The boy began to breathe in and out rapidly, he was hyperventilating.

"Hey," Jack called out, "kid."

The boy turned directly to Jack. His face painted with a look of petrifying fear.

"Where am I? Where's my mommy!?"

"Calm down," Jack said with a somewhat comfort tone, "I need you to calm down."

The boys face, cheeks covered in tears, moved up and down slowly as he acknowledged Jack.

"What is your name?"

"R-Ryan."

"Ryan, my name's Jack. We're going to get out of here ok? I just need you to stay calm. Ok?"

The boy, Ryan, nodded.

Jack began looking around, trying to figure out how to get out of the handcuffs. He looked at the cuffs and realized the key holes had been filled with a small amount of cement. Picking the lock was no longer an option. He noticed a dull saw next to the severed foot, and quickly tossed the idea of cutting off his hand out of his head. Jack looked at the recorder again; there must have been something he missed. Something the stranger on the tape said that might help. Jack rewound the tape. As soon as the tape came to a stop he pressed play.

Hello Jack…

**10:23:19/10:23:20/10:23:21**

Kim looked like she hadn't slept for days. It was true. Ever since she awoke in the park the other day, she had felt weird and scared. Then that night, when she looked in her purse for her keys she found a small tape recorder. That was when she learned that she had been infected with a virus. She almost jumped up and ran to the phone until the voice on the tape recorder told her that if she did call the police, her new boyfriend Ted would be shot and killed. For proof, the voice told her to look in her purse again where she found a photo of Ted tied and gagged, bloody and bruised. With instructions to fly from Dallas to Los Angeles and walk right into CTU.

Not only was she tired, but scared out of her mind. At times like these she could always count on her father, but since she was sent away he had became a mere figment of her imagination. That is until the voice said CTU. She blames her dad for this catastrophe. In her mind the thought of having to be the aftermath of something Jack did was the only option. She couldn't possibly have that bad of luck.

The flight was almost over; another twenty-five minutes and she would be landing at LAX. She held her phone in her hand, constantly going over the contact list she had trying to see if there was someone who could help. No one. She leaned her head against the window and peered out as a tear fell from her eye.

_Dad, where are you?_

**10:29:58/10:29:59/10:30:00**

It had been quiet for most of the day in the bullpen. Then all of sudden the phones were echoing through the halls. Chloe, fast away at typing a report, watched with untrusting eyes the people and actions everyone in her line of sight made. She did not trust anyone.

After the countless times CTU had been breached or dismantled in a horrible way, the trust in anyone other than Jack and her husband Morris. She missed Jack dearly though. The countless adrenaline fueled chases and Intel feeds, near death experiences. They were what made her job enjoyable; but now that she and Morris had a child she was glad things were back to the dull normality that they were.

Then, her phone rang. She lifted her right hand from the keyboard and picked it up.

"O'Brian."

"Chloe, come up to my office."

"Ok."

Chloe hung up the phone. She slowly got up and began making her way to the director's office. The _new _director's office; she rapped at the door and the deep voice from the other side told her to enter. She stood center, facing the new director and two people sitting in chair opposite of his desk. Chloe looked at the director, his rugged and experienced face looking sharply at her with stern eyes.

"Mr. Fisher." She said.

"Chloe," Fisher said, "This is Special Agent Ramos and Special Agent Drear."

Chloe nodded at them as they turned and looked at her.

"They're here because Jack has just been declared missing."

Her heart stopped. Jack had escaped. No, impossible, Jack would never do that; he would own up to the things he had done. This did not sound like Jack; of course ever since he returned from China. Jack wasn't really Jack. She personally believed that Jack never came back from China, just his body did.

"What?" She inquired very surprised, "How?"

"We don't know."

"Ok, well what does this have to do with me?"

Fisher stood. He placed his hands on the desk and supported his weight on them.

"Go home." Fisher said.

"What? Why?" Chloe asked.

"Because we feel that he may contact you for resources and it would be better if you just went home and stayed there until we cleared things up."

Chloe's face contorted to annoyance, she did not like being singled out just because of her past relations with Jack. She merely nodded and walked out of the office, Fisher followed. Fisher stopped her once she had made it to her desk.

"Chloe," Fisher said, "don't take it personal. You know why they're doing this."

Chloe turned to Fisher.

"You've been here what three, no four weeks and you still have no control over this facility. All you do is sit in your office with the blinds drawn. You're not running this place, who is?"

Fisher did not say anything but stare at her with his penetrating green eyes. Chloe grabbed her coat from the back of the chair, her purse and headed to the lift. Fisher bit the bottom of his lip and sighed, it was hard to have a friend in need and not be able to help them. He knew how it felt, how it tore one up inside to feel the burden of friends death on their hands. For Fisher, it was literal.

Chloe's phone on her desk rang.

_Jack_, Fisher thought as he quickly lunged towards the handset and picked it up.

"Fisher," he answered.

"Sam?" the voice inquired.

"Yes."

"It's Anna; we have Chloe on the grid."

"Good."

Fisher, Sam hung the phone up and turned back to his office as he scoped the rest of the bullpen floor. Making sure everyone was steadily working. He placed his hands in his suit pockets and made his way up the stairs.

**10:47:06/10:47:07/10:47:08**

Jack had replayed the tape three times now. He pressed rewind again, this time holding the recorder closer to his ear. The end of the tape had the sadistic stranger's voice whisper something, and Jack knew that the clue was there. And as if it was in slow motion, he heard the terrifying words.

_Look into a child's soul to seek freedom...for they are the future._

Jack's eyes shot up to the little boy in the corner.

"Ryan," Jack said, "Ryan listen I need you to lift your shirt for a moment ok."

"Why?"

"Because I need to make sure you don't have any scratches." Jack said in an attempted reassuring voice.

Ryan nodded, got up on his knees and lifted his shirt above the chest, nothing. No sign of any wounds or cuts. At least not on the front.

"Ok, now I need ya to turn around so I can check your back." Jack instructed.

Ryan turned around and that was when Jack saw it; a six inch incision that had been closed using butterfly wings. He had quickly put two and two together. And those two things equaled a bad thing, a very bad thing.

The key to unlock the door was inside Ryan, the scared little boy.

He quickly shut that thought out of his mind. He rose to his feet and planted his feet on the tile, bent his knees and pulled hard trying to break the hand cuff or the pipe; whichever one would give first. He pulled so hard until the metal from the cuff began digging into his already scarred hand. Blood began to drip from his wrist as the metal cut deeper and deeper into his hand. Jack let out a yell, putting all the strength he had into his left arm.

Suddenly the pipe snapped, and Jack fell backwards onto his butt. He let out a sigh and chuckle at the same time. He turned his head over his shoulder and looked at Ryan.

"See kid," Jack said, "we're going to get out of here."

He said with an awkward smile, he turned back and looked into the abyss of the decision he was about to have to make. What to do about getting that key _out _of Ryan.

**10:59:58/10:59:59/11:00:00**


	2. 11:00PM12:00Am

**THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 11:00 PM AND 12:00 AM**

**11:00:36/11:00:37/11:00:38**

The plane had landed. Kim existed the plane and into LAX airport where she then waited for the conveyor belt to bring around her luggage and then made her way outside. The smog air filled her lungs, she missed it. All the good time about growing up in Los Angeles and the great time with her family; she even missed the arguments her and her mom would get into about what she could wear to school.

After she let the feeling of the city sink into her skin again she waived a taxi down, got in, and instructed the driver on where to go. CTU.

The endless array of multicolored, fluorescent signage outlined the path of the road they drove on. She noticed a few new buildings had been raised, and a few old buildings turned to rubble. But other than that nothing really had changed.

**11:16:22/11:16:23/11:16:24**

Jack's right hand, still cuffed, made a dull jingle when he moved. But it was a nice and soothing sound to Ryan. A noise that was not violent but calm. Jack knelt down and brought his face eye level to Ryan.

"Ok Ryan," Jack said, "now I know this sounds crazy, but I need you to trust me ok?"

Ryan hesitated to say yes.

"Ryan listen, a bad man has put something inside of you and I have to get it out."

Ryan began to get uneasy; the knowledge that he had something inside him scared him. He became fidgety and uncomfortable. Jack gently grabbed his shoulders.

"Calm down Ryan, remember if we are going to get through this you have to trust me and stay calm." Jack said.

"I'm scared, and I want my mom." Ryan uttered through trembling lips.

"I know, and I promise I'm going to get you home safe to her." Jack said, "But right now I need you to lie down on your stomach, remove your shirt and let me get the thing out of you. Understand?"

Ryan nodded, "Is it going to hurt?"

"Yes."

"I'm really scared." Ryan said as he busted out in tears.

Jack pulled him in and held him as Ryan broke down in his arms. Jack tried running different ideas through his head, but this was the only reasonable one.

Jack looks around the room with Ryan still crying in his arms and tries to look for something to cut Ryan's incision back open with. All he saw was the dull bladed handsaw. He was going to hate himself forever for doing this. He brought Ryan up to see his face.

"Ryan," Jack said, "I'm going to put you to sleep while I do this ok."

Ryan nodded, "Ok, but how ar-"

That was as far as Ryan got before Jack struck his neck and he blacked out.

**11:28:15/11:28:16/11:28:17**

Her eyes opened as the sound of the ringing of the phone woke her. Her hand felt around for the button on the lamp. When she found and turned on the light she then scoured the night table for the phone.

"H-hello." She said with a sleepy voice.

"Mrs. President," the voice on the other side said, "we have a problem."

**11:29:58/11:29:59/11:30:00**

Jack's hands shook. He breathed deeply and tried to calm his nerves, he hadn't been then same after what happened in China and more recently in Sangala. The years of torture and excessive danger were beginning to wear him down.

_Los Angeles_

_Deadly virus_

_Possibly millions dead_

_Kim…_

These thoughts raced through his head, in that exact order too. He took a deep breath, gripped the handle of the dull bladed hand saw tightly and slowly inserted the first tooth of the blade into Ryan's back. The real problem was not the incision itself, but where it was located. It was directly beside Ryan's spinal column, and one slip or mishap would be paralysis or death for the kid.

As he pushed a bit harder and drug the tooth down, the butterfly wings dispersed from the wound and it opened up. Blood began to ooze out of the back, but luckily that was all. But the harder part was still ahead. The key was lodged deep inside, and Jack was going to have to put his fingers in there and find in amongst the tissue, muscle and blood without hitting the column. As Jack looked at the wound, he licked his lips quickly and took another deep breath as he placed his thumb and index finger inside the open wound and began feeling around for the key.

Nothing.

He felt around some more, pushing tissue and muscle aside a bit.

Still nothing.

Then he found something, he quickly pinched it with his thumb and index finger and pulled it out. But it was not the key, it was another tape. A tape that read: RYAN. PLAY ME.

Jack sighed. There laid a boy cut open, unconscious and no way of getting out of here. Jack tossed the tape aside, tore a small piece from the bottom of his shirt and pressed it against the open wound to stop the bleeding.

**11:44:03/11:44:04/11:44:05**

Allison Taylor, the new president, walked through the sliding (bullet proof) glass and into the conference room. She sat down at the tables end chair and opened a vanilla file that read: BAUER, JACK.

Alongside her was Tom Lennox.

"Ok Tom," she said, "Let me hear it."

Tom nodded, "At around 5:00 today the FBI truck carrying Bauer was isolated and was hit by a blast caused by the front passenger side tire hitting a buried mine. Soon after, when the agents didn't call to check in their status a small team was sent to find them. When they did, all the agents had been shot in the head with a rather skillful shot and Bauer missing.

"Did he or anyone he's associated with do it?" the President asked.

"We don't know yet."

"But CTU: LA has been informed." Tom said.

"Ok, what will that accomplish? Is he in Los Angeles?"

"Well," Tom said, "we don't know. But it is the most likely place he will try to contact because of a former co-worker Chloe O'Brian. She has helped him countless times. She would be his greatest and only asset."

"What have done about that?"

"We had Third Echelon send over someone to keep an eye on things."

"Who?"

"Sam Fisher. Former Splinter Cell agent, he went undercover in 2006, which in the end resulted in him being a wanted fugitive for various terroristic actions he made and the murder of his boss Colonel Irving Lambert. But in 2008, during his conviction, he was cleared of all charges, for an unknown reason, and was reinstated with Third Echelon. Due to the constant struggle with Bauer's containment, they sent Fisher in as CTU: LA's new director to make sure everything goes to plan."

Mrs. President was in awe.

"He was cleared of the charges?!" she inquired with surprise.

"Yes m'am."

"Keep me updated on the status of finding Bauer." She ordered.

The President got up and began to walk out of the conference room; she stopped and turned to Tom.

"And get me _everything _on this Fisher. I want to know exactly why he was cleared of those charges. And until then keep an eye on him."

"Yes m'am."

The President left the conference room and made her way to the Oval Office. She was already awake, and new that she was about to have a long day ahead of her.

**11:52:20/11:52:21/11:52:22**

The bleeding had stopped and the kid was coming to. Jack helped him up until he was sitting straight up.

"Why did you-"

Ryan was cut off by a small tape Jack held in his hand. Before he noticed the tape, the sight of Jack's hand sent a shiver down his spine. But broke focus when Jack picked up the tape recorder; Jack put the tape in the device and pressed play. He sat down, next to Ryan as the creepy voice came back.

"Hello Ryan," said the strange voice, "By now, since you are listening to this you have met Jack. And this is a good thing because now you will know who killed your dad. Just look at the only other face in the room. That's right, Jack killed your dad. And now I am giving you a chance to set things straight. If you feel around in your pants pocket you will feel a small knife. Use it, seek revenge. Your father's death was uncalled for, and Jack's impulsive nature killed him. Literally, now take the knife and end the life of the culprit that ended your father's. Good luck to you, Ryan Manning."

The voice disappeared into the static and Jack pressed stop. Ryan and Jack's eyes met for what seemed like eternity. Jack quickly got to his feet just in case Ryan tried to pull the knife on him. Ryan stood up as well and with the knife in his hand.

**11:58:00/11:58:01/11:58:02**

The light was red and the taxi stopped. The driver looked at Kim.

"You ok?" he asked in his very distinctive British accent.

She had dazed off into space, he broke her focus and brought her back to reality. She nodded.

"We're almost there." He said.

She simply gave him a faint smile. Then she saw, in the rearview mirror, his eyes turn cold. But he was not looking at her, he was looking behind her. She turned her head to see what it was. And that is when the pulsating blue and red lights illuminated her eyes. She turned back around. She did not know if they were looking for her or not. Her heart began pacing fast, her breathing heavier. At that moment she felt the pull of gravity as the taxi sped off in a frenzy.

"Sorry love," the driver said, "change of plans."

"What?!" Kim yelled, "What do you mean? What's going on? Are they after you?!"

His gaze met hers in the rearview mirror, and then his eyes went back to the road. She sat back in the seat and clasped her seat belt into its sheath. She had just been taken hostage by a car thief.

**11:59:58/11:59:59/12:00:00**


End file.
